(Zaman Al Wasl)- A leaked document obtained by Zaman al-Wasl reveals the names of 170 political prisoners detained in Palmyra (Tadmour) Prison whom the al-Assad regime transferred to Tartus before the Islamic State forces took control of the city in 2015. The document was leaked by an official in once Syria's most notorious prison.
This information counters Bashar al-Assad’s claims that Palmyra Prison was shut down or cleaned up after he inherited rule in 2000. The document also contradicts Hafez al-Assad’s claims that many of those detained in Palmyra were terrorists and their detention part of the regime’s fight against terror. Many of those detained were no older than 20 at the time of their arrest. Their detention happened at a time when the Islamic State had not even come into existence. Al-Assad replicates his father’s practices against tens of thousands of Syrian detainees among whom many are dead, or their fate remains unknown.
The document includes information about detainees’ ages, their place of birth and their former professions. The detainees’ ages range between 57-82, and the regime continues to hold them despite their advanced years. One of the detainees transferred to Tartus in 2015, was born in Homs city in 1935, so he is 82, and many of his fellow detainees are not much younger. Many of those detained have been held for decades. One man has been detained since 1979, so he has been held for 38 years. The detainees mentioned come from Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Deir Ez Zor, Idlib, and Damascus Suburbs provinces.
While the document does not specify the charges for which they were detained, it is well-known that the al-Assad regime arrested thousands of Syrians during the 1980s under different charges. The most famous charge was membership in the armed wing of the Islamic Brotherhood within and outside the armed forces, starting a civil war, inciting sectarian killing, vandalism and actions opposing the April Revolution, treachery, espionage, and intent to kill. Other charges were membership in “suspicious” right-wing organization, membership in the “suspicious” Iraqi right-wing organization, taking money from Syrian refugees, accepting money from a foreign country to the advantage of an agent regime working against the territory, espionage, and communicating with a foreign state with the aim of perpetrating aggressive acts against the territory.
In addition to the names listed, the document includes evidence and proof that condemn the al-Assad regime, father and son, before and during the revolution. The document illustrates the regime’s plan to move detainees from Palmyra Prison prior to handing over the historical city to the Islamic State forces. The Islamic State forces taking control of the city prepared the stage for the regime to regain the city from them and confirm its participation in the fight against terror. At the minimum, the regime’s preparations to move the prisoners from Palmyra reveal that the regime did not intend to defend the city from the Islamic State attack.
Media reports from the summer of 2015, based on the testimonies of Palmyra residents, dissident officials, and political analysts, accuse the al-Assad regime of purposefully withdrawing before the advancing Islamic State forces.
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